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NetApp SnapMirror vs NetApp Snapshot comparison

 

Comparison Buyer's Guide

Executive SummaryUpdated on Jan 12, 2025

Review summaries and opinions

We asked business professionals to review the solutions they use. Here are some excerpts of what they said:
 

Categories and Ranking

NetApp SnapMirror
Ranking in Data Replication
1st
Average Rating
8.8
Reviews Sentiment
7.8
Number of Reviews
25
Ranking in other categories
No ranking in other categories
NetApp Snapshot
Ranking in Data Replication
2nd
Average Rating
8.8
Reviews Sentiment
7.6
Number of Reviews
22
Ranking in other categories
No ranking in other categories
 

Mindshare comparison

As of March 2025, in the Data Replication category, the mindshare of NetApp SnapMirror is 18.5%, down from 21.4% compared to the previous year. The mindshare of NetApp Snapshot is 23.0%, down from 23.2% compared to the previous year. It is calculated based on PeerSpot user engagement data.
Data Replication
 

Featured Reviews

Abdul-Salam - PeerSpot reviewer
Provides great data loss recovery and real time replication
Deployment was very smooth and took around two weeks. Following that, we carried out our data migration which took time. We previously used a Windows file independent server with its own local disk and Windows OS. It's not compatible with NetApp so data had to be physically migrated. We also took extra time integrating with our antivirus software and configuring external tape libraries with NetApp. We had one staff member involved in the deployment and an engineer from our partners. We have close to 900 users. The solution requires routine tasks as opposed to maintenance. We have three or four people with access to this storage.
Mir Gulzar Ahmed - PeerSpot reviewer
Offers point-in-time copy functionality, restore process is very fast, and the resources are easy to configure
Snapshot doesn't work well when you're already backing up data with another software. For example, if a customer has backup software in their environment and wants to use Snapshot alongside it, that won't work effectively. It will bubble up back-end storage space. Also, if a customer frequently deletes data, Snapshot will take up a lot of space. For example, if they write one terabyte of data and delete it at the end of the day, and then rewrite it the next day, scheduling a snapshot in that scenario will cause it to take up a lot of space. So, in scenarios where you need data protection, you have to use NetApp Snapshot exclusively and not use any other product for that. Secondly, where there's a lot of data deletion or overwriting, NetApp's Snapshot will not be an effective way to provide backup and recovery. I've told a lot of my customers this because I've seen the problems firsthand. They call me saying their storage is full, and I find that they are deleting and then copying the data repeatedly. I ask them why they're doing it, and they say it's their daily work to archive, delete, and copy. So I have to disable the Snapshot and tell them that if they're already copying the data with other tools and deleting it, then the data isn't important, and they don't need a snapshot or backup of it. For additional features: NetApp is already a visionary company. They analyze their deployed products and change them according to customer requirements. To me, it's not about technical improvement, but the price factor is important for selling the product. So, the price factor is challenging. Snapshot is a ten out of ten. If the whole product needs improvement, I think one feature they could add is an alarm or notification in the NetApp management console if you're frequently deleting data or using a volume for backups. The alarm would indicate that you don't need to enable Snapshot in that case. That kind of alarm, notification, or indication could be added. If a customer is deleting data very frequently, there should be a mechanism to notify the administrator. A message should be triggered if the customer has enabled Snapshot, advising them to disable it, as it will use unnecessary storage. This would be a helpful feature. Otherwise, administrators or deployers should know to discuss this with the customer during deployment. They should advise the customer not to enable Snapshot on volumes where they frequently delete and copy or archive data.

Quotes from Members

We asked business professionals to review the solutions they use. Here are some excerpts of what they said:
 

Pros

"The user interface is very easy to manage. The replication is also very easy to set up."
"The most valuable feature is the data replication tool. There is also a lot of ability for data migration."
"The product has good performance."
"The performance and stability are valuable features. It seems to fulfill all the requirements."
"There are a lot of features that are excellent. The data compression during the transfer, for example, is good. The replication is great. The durability of the solution and the speed of the data moving from one site to another is impressive."
"They have a very effective dashboard and good reports."
"The tool seamlessly moves data over the network without putting pressure on the network."
"With SnapMirror, the solution is the feature itself that is most valuable. It just replicates the data. It's very difficult to speak about, in the sense that it's similar to the features of a wheel. It is round and it's a part of an automobile."
"Compared to the traditional way we did backups, with Snapshot it takes us less time. It has improved my organization by saving us time."
"Snapshots are space-efficient and consistent across all applications."
"It has a user-friendly interface."
"You never have to worry about maintaining millions of files stored across several thousands of virtual machines."
"The most valuable features of this solution are the snapshot and clone capabilities."
"You never have to worry about protecting your virtual machines."
"It is a very scalable solution. Scalability-wise, I rate the solution a ten out of ten."
"This mature product is the leader in the backup industry with unique features and capabilities for users with advanced backup needs."
 

Cons

"The user interface could be simplified. They might want to have fewer options on it, to make it less complicated. There are a lot of options we never use ourselves. They're often very specialized and don't apply to us."
"The solution's dashboard and reporting could be improved."
"At the moment, we are not using the synchronous mirror, but we can implement the synchronous mirror. The only thing is that it needs another license. This is the same issue we have with business continuity. It needs another license to be implemented. You need too many separate licenses for the features. They should add some of the aspects of the premium bundle into the basic bundle. Sometimes our customers choose other replication services because of the initial cost of the licenses."
"In the next release, I would like to get an active IP number solution."
"It is not as efficient as it needs to be. It doesn't compress the data really well when it is forwarded to a secondary site. The download performance could be better."
"The GUI can be improved to perform complex tasks"
"The tool should also work on third-party solutions."
"There is probably some limitations when it comes to the scalability of the solution."
"The solution could include more databases and make it accessible to the DBAs. The automation process should be run in a way where it could be run from the database itself."
"The dashboards are in need of improvement."
"The UI is probably their biggest weakness. There are always glitches in the HTML UI."
"The initial setup of NetApp Snapshot is not straightforward. It's not something that you can do just by clicking on the next step button. It has to be designed and it has to be implemented according to your network capabilities and the use case scenario."
"There should be an alarm or notification in the NetApp management console if you're frequently deleting data or using a volume for backups."
"I would like some sort of notification that lets me know when a snapshot is done or not done."
"The initial setup process of NetApp Snapshot is not easy and needs improvement."
"NetApp needs to take a look at their pricing in comparison to the competition and make the appropriate change to attract more customers and gain in market share."
 

Pricing and Cost Advice

"It's a highly cost-effective solution"
"The pricing could be improved."
"The cost is low compared to different vendors."
"SnapMirror is extremely expensive. We had a hard time adjusting to our budget. If rated on a scale of one to ten, with ten being the most expensive, I would definitely rate it ten out of ten."
"The pricing can be improved."
"The solution has monthly and yearly licensing options."
"It's part of the NetApp Firewall, so it's free."
"The product price is reasonable."
"If there is a way to save more on the number of snapshots, it should be included in the next release."
"The price of this solution is fair."
"The price of the solution is reasonable but could improve. However, if you are in a country that has a poor currency then the price will be considered expensive."
"NetApp Snapshot is expensive since you need to buy an additional premium license for it which is an extra cost over the payments made for NetApp...The license works during the entire life cycle of NetApp Snapshot."
"The price of NetApp Snapshot depends on the use case. They charge by how much data you need, the capability, and for snap licenses."
"It's not too expensive."
"Snapshot is free and comes with the NetApp storage software. It's purely free of cost."
"As far as their licensing costs, the licensing is paid on a yearly basis. The organization pays for the licensing based on the software and the capacity that they choose."
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Top Industries

By visitors reading reviews
Manufacturing Company
20%
Financial Services Firm
14%
Computer Software Company
13%
Government
7%
Manufacturing Company
23%
Financial Services Firm
14%
Computer Software Company
13%
Government
6%
 

Company Size

By reviewers
Large Enterprise
Midsize Enterprise
Small Business
 

Questions from the Community

What do you like most about NetApp SnapMirror?
The performance and stability are valuable features. It seems to fulfill all the requirements.
What needs improvement with NetApp SnapMirror?
They could make continued enhancements in integration with diverse platforms for the product.
What method of data replication does NetApp Snapshot use?
Here's a breakdown of how the data replication by NetApp Snapshot works: it's through the snapshot replication method. What does that mean? Well, in simple words, the software creates copies of dat...
What is the storage scale of NetApp Snapshot?
Last time I checked, the NetApp Snapshot data replication software could go up to 255 snapshot copies. I'm not sure how familiar you are with similar software, but that's a pretty good number. It g...
Will NetApp Snapshot recover data in an emergency?
Well yes, the snapshots that NetApp Snapshot creates are your backup. But then there's also their feature for advanced backup. This allows you to copy backups to offline locations and also make arc...
 

Also Known As

SnapMirror
No data available
 

Overview

 

Sample Customers

University at Albany, City of Houston, Yahoo Japan, Washington Employment Security Department, DG Khan Cement Co. Ltd., AmTrust Financial Services, Sheridan College
Mazda
Find out what your peers are saying about NetApp SnapMirror vs. NetApp Snapshot and other solutions. Updated: March 2025.
841,004 professionals have used our research since 2012.